India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect, bringing an end to a career in which he claimed 765 wickets for his country across the formats.
Ashwin, 38, made the announcement after India’s draw with Australia in the Brisbane Test, a game he was not selected for.
He said: “This will be my last day as an Indian cricketer in all formats at the international level.
“I feel there’s a little bit of punch left in me as a cricketer, but I’d like to express that, showcase that in club-level cricket.”
Ashwin is India’s second-highest Test wicket-taker, with his 537 scalps behind only Anil Kumble (619), while he claimed 156 one-day international wickets and 72 in T20 internationals.
The Chennai born player also struck 3,503 Test runs, with six hundreds and 14 half-centuries.
Ashwin, who is the seventh-highest wicket taker in men’s Test cricket, added: “I’ve had a lot of fun.
“I have made a lot of memories alongside Rohit [Sharma] and several of my team-mates, even though we’ve lost some of them [to retirements] over the last few years.
“We’re the last bunch of OGs, we can say that. I will be marking this as my date of having played at this level.
“Obviously there are a lot of people to thank, but I will be failing in my duties if I didn’t thank the BCCI and fellow team-mates.
“Most importantly, Rohit, Virat [Kohli], Ajinkya [Rahane], [Cheteshwar] Pujara, who have taken some of the catches around the bat and given me the number of wickets I’ve managed to get over the years.”
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